Mom`s Boyfriend Charged In Infant`s Fatal Beating

Three days before a Matteson infant was beaten to death, the woman hired to protect the boy quit the job, complaining that she was being harassed by the man later charged with murdering the child, police said Friday.

Andrew Driver, 22, of Matteson was charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend`s 8-month-old son, Shahon Mighty. Driver was ordered held on a bond of $1 million by Cook County Associate Judge Reginald Baker.

Police described Driver as the sometimes live-in boyfriend of Shahon`s 17-year-old mother. The mother lives with her 13-year-old sister and the infant`s 43-year-old grandmother.

Neighbors said that in the year that the family has lived on their block, it was common to see squad cars pull up in front of the two-story yellow frame house.

At the time of Shahon`s death, the family was being monitored by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services after Shahon had been hospitalized for a month in October with skull fractures on both sides of his head.

Sources said that doctors at Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn notified police of their suspicions of child abuse and that doctors delayed Shahon`s release two weeks to give DCFS more time to arrange for custody of the child outside the family`s home.

However, DCFS returned Shahon to the family Nov. 23, with the stipulation that his grandmother should ensure his safety with the help of a 24-hour caretaker. A woman was hired for the full-time, live-in job.

But on Dec. 10, the grandmother reported by telephone to a registered nurse assigned to the case that three of Shahon`s toes were burned. The grandmother said she had been led to believe by Driver that the caretaker was responsible for the burns.

That day, the caretaker reportedly called her agency to quit the assignment, complaining she had no control of the situation. She said Driver would not let her near the child whom she was to protect, according to police. The next day, the grandmother drove the caretaker to her own home. Still seething about the burns suffered by the baby, according to police, the grandmother drove the caretaker past the Cook County Jail and told her that she belonged there.

Police said that Sunday, the grandmother went to work, leaving Shahon in the house with Driver, the child`s mother and the infant`s 13-year-old aunt.

Investigators said Driver admitted fatally beating the baby while the grandmother was gone.

Late that afternoon, the grandmother picked up another caretaker and pulled up to the house to find an ambulance and paramedics there. They took Shahon to Olympia Fields Osteopathic Medical Center.

He was pronounced dead at 7:15 p.m.

The Cook County medical examiner`s office ruled Shahon`s death a homicide, saying the child was a victim of ``systematic child abuse and blunt trauma.``

Medical examiners said that in his final beating he suffered massive internal bleeding from broken ribs and a lacerated liver and adrenal gland.

Matteson police said that although Driver was named on the autopsy report as Shahon`s father, he was not. They said the father had no contact with the child. Shahon`s mother reportedly broke up with the father while she was pregnant.

Dr. Mitra Kalelkar, who performed the autopsy, questioned why DCFS returned the child to the same environment when it was apparent, she said, that his skull fractures were not accidental.

The Cook County state`s attorney`s office is conducting a two-pronged investigation in Shahon`s death. The prosecutors are helping Matteson police with the continuing criminal investigation and looking into whether DCFS mishandled the case.

Matteson police have been critical of DCFS and said the agency`s caseworker assigned to Shahon failed to inform them of the child abuse suspicions, did not return phone calls and missed at least one appointment with a detective.

DCFS spokeswoman Janet Peters said her agency followed a well-established policy in releasing Shahon to his grandmother`s care.

``We provide systems and supports, but we can`t watch people 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,`` Peters said. ``Unfortunately the hand that delivers the blow is ultimately responsible for the death of a child.``

Driver, who graduated from Rich South High School in Richton Park, was an assault victim in October. On Oct. 13 he was shot once in the chest in Chicago Heights and taken to the Olympia Fields hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman said Driver was released Oct. 22. However, Matteson police said Driver told them he was released the morning of Oct. 21 and went to his girlfriend`s house.

Less than 24 hours later, Shahon was rushed by his grandmother to the hospital`s emergency room, suffering from skull fractures. The injuries were so severe that Shahon was taken by helicopter to Christ Hospital.

Doctors in the emergency room at the Olympia Fields hospital were so suspicious of child abuse that they notified DCFS, as did medical personnel at Christ Hospital.